The Man Who Stole a Leopard :: Music Video

A while back I had entered two spec videos for the Norwegian band Royskopp on the website genero.tv. Both were finalists and supposedly showed in London somewhere.

Seems Duran Duran was also looking for videos for their latest album, so I found a track I liked and put on my thinking cap. I hadn’t listened to the band for decades, but Duran Duran played an influential role in the shaping of my libido through adolescence. Girls on Film mostly. I wanted to return the favor by creating some eye candy for the upcoming generation. This song had good potential for naughtiness. And naughty we were.

Simon LeBon had the notion of Peter Beard coming back from a safari with a leopard and keeping it in his apartment. Of course, there is some implicit sexual politics going on. So I ran with the notion, as well as cribbing a bit from Peter Beard’s book.

Ron Shuey did the leopard paint job. Brandy Mason was our erstwhile cat, prancing about in nothing but a thin coat of color (boy, can she drink cream). Christian Breeden was our lucky banana-eating hunter. (Note: he wore that pith helmet and gorilla suit in the movie Lake Effects, which I though would add a nice bit of weirdness to the kinky setup.) Emily Williamson and Leia Jones were the dancing birds (there’s another topless cut for the European audiences).

This was my first shoot with assistant Marco Duran (appropriate name for the project). He’s a young buck and I hope this makes him want to film more. Some studios just stick to corporate industrials. Others shoot kinky music videos when they can. Gotta mix it up to keep the assistants interested.

I did an early cut with a lot of saturated color. But finally bit the bullet and went in for the filters and the superimposed writing. The judges at genero.tv said they loved both but the later edit was the strongest. I was happy I got to finally use my yard-sale-bought faux-leopard-print rug with such a willing and alluring subject. Reaar.

Amoeba Art & Media (a.k.a. Amoeba Films) is an award-winning production company and film studio in Central Virginia.